“I‘m really, really, really sorry Mr. Snyder; I know this is the third time this week that I‘ve been late to school. But wait, wait, this time I have a real honest reason for being late. I did like you told me and got up ten minutes early and ate my cereal real fast, but halfway to school I suddenly was stopped by some really interesting people. A handsome prince just begged me to help his musician friends find their way to the blue castle……..and his dragon was very, very thirsty and wanted me to buy him something to drink and, and……..well you can just imagine what an educational situation I figured this was so…………”
Bob Byerley 2010

When our granddaughter, Hannah was six years old she began having trouble getting to school on time. When we questioned her about this problem she always had a ready answer. One day she told us that she had stopped by the restroom before class and heard a whole flock of birds flapping around in the ceiling; another day she had stopped to help a little kid get his wagon across the street. Another day the mailman had asked her to deliver a very important letter to an old lady who lived three blocks over from her school. That same year we had taken Hannah to the Renaissance Festival and I snapped a picture of her chatting with a handsome prince charming. The idea of her using this dashing young fellow as another of her seemingly unending excuses for her tardiness hit me as an idea for a painting. I sketched out the idea using her and several other Renascence characters and pinned the drawing to my studio wall.
Hannah is now twenty years old and a Sophomore in college. I finally turned to my sketch of her and did the painting I entitled “And that’s why I was Late To School.”